Please join us for the St. Louis Community College Foundation 13th annual gala Falling in Love in Five Courses, which will be held Saturday, February 20, 2021. Due to increasing cases of COVID-19 throughout our region, the 2021 gala will be
presented in a completely virtual format. While this change is disappointing, it is necessary for the health and safety of
our guests, and the community at large. Though we will not be holding an in-person
event this year, we are excited to announce that the online event will feature an
award-winning celebrity chef Gavin Kaysen! Please check back here for event updates.
Gavin Kaysen is an award-winning chef and advocate for the culinary profession. Since
March 2020, he has created opportunities for his team and the greater culinary community
to survive during trying, unprecedented times. His voice—through regular media interviews,
social media, and a weekly column called “The Shutdown Notebook” on The Counter—is
catalyst for government action and continues to be an honest portrayal of the current
restaurant climate, as well as the future for what restaurants will become.
He is the founder of Soigne Hospitality Group, a nationally recognized group of restaurants
in the Minneapolis metropolitan area including Spoon and Stable, a 2015 James Beard
Award Finalist for Best New Restaurant, located in the North Loop neighborhood; Bellecour,
a French-inspired bistro in Wayzata, MN; and his newest concept Demi, an intimate
20-seat tasting menu experience also located in the North Loop. He is also the co-founder
of Heart of the House Foundation, a nonprofit organization created to sustain the growth,
health, and prosperity of the Soigné Hospitality family now and in the future.
Chef Kaysen refined his craft in contemporary American fine dining by dedicating time
to some of the world’s best restaurants in New York City, Switzerland, and London.
He is privileged to call two of the world’s most celebrated chefs, Daniel Boulud and
Thomas Keller, his mentors.
He supports the next generation of young culinarians refine their skills as one of
the founding mentors of the nonprofit mentor BKB Foundation (formerly Bocuse d’Or
USA Foundation), for which he currently serves as President of Team USA. Chef Kaysen
is the proud recipient of two James Beard Awards—Rising Star Chef of the Year in 2008,
and Best Chef: Midwest in 2018.
